


Frozen Waffles

by The_End_Of_All_Things



Series: Simple Things [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 03:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17859278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_End_Of_All_Things/pseuds/The_End_Of_All_Things
Summary: Frozen waffles, the first time.





	Frozen Waffles

He was quite a sight, standing on a broken up curb, kicking pathetically at a dumpster, and whining to thin air about where else he was going to get food poisoning for two dollars.

He had wanted a taco. One of those tacos like Taco Bell had but just a little bit more questionable, a vendor with a grade so low they could get away with selling cockroaches as cow meat.

But alas, his dreams had been crushed when he went down to his favorite place, Steve's Siesta Slop, (or something of the sort, he could usually only remember the real name when he wasn't one pill away from an overdose) and found it regrettably closed. That was, closed permanently.

"What am I supposed to do now-a." He huffed as he turned to the darkly clad figure standing next to him.

"Find something else to eat." The figure calmly replied, face unwavering as Klaus threw his fit.

"Oh, Mr. Know-It-All." He spun around, skirt twirling as he took off down the street. "I tell you one thing, I am not riding the bus with that lunatic lady again. No sir. The next place I see, we are going."

Unfortunately, the next place seemed to be closed at the ungodly hour that it was. As did the next, and the next, and the one after that. When they finally did stumble on a place, it was a quaint little diner with a few pedestrians dispersed throughout the leather booths and metal barstools. Respectable.

In short, Klaus didn't like it.

"Maybe we should find another place. The night's still young, right?" 

Ben sighed. "Klaus we spent twenty minutes finding this place."

"Fine, fine, have it your way." He threw open the doors and strolled into the room. Immediately the shift in the air was noticeable, an uneasiness fell across the entire floor.

Klaus, of course, either didn't know or care. He was probably too high to comprehend either one.

He strolled right up to the counter and flopped onto a seat, making sure to pull out a stool for Ben.

He waved his hand in the direction of a waitress at the cash register. "Excuse me, diner lady! I'll take..." He paused to squint up at the menu. "...uh... Waffles! Yes, I'll take a plate of waffles for me and one for my friend here." He gestured vaguely to where Ben sat.

Of course, no one else could see Ben and this did little to dissipate the obvious tension in the room.

He had turned back to the empty stool and was now idly chatting.

"Of course you like waffles. Everyone likes waffles." A pause. "Oh, don't give me that, Ben. That's different." Another slightly shorter pause. "Yeah, well when you see a dog barking at you with its skull ripped open and half its brain missing, you won't like them either." The man in the leather skirt huffed and turned back to the counter.

By this time, of course, the entire little restaurant had fallen quiet, each person staring at the obviously insane man in quiet horror.

The waitress looked ready to run right out of the store. She hurriedly disappeared into the back before reappearing with a small plastic card in her hand.

She walked up to Klaus cautiously as if approaching a horny elephant.

He looked up at her advance. "Good you're here. Tell me, where are those pancakes?"

He glanced to his side again.

"Right, waffles. Where are the waffles?"

The waitress held up the card with a shaky hand, bold red letters spelling out "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone."

Klaus glanced behind before turning back around as realization struck him. "Me?"

The girl pointed to the door.

The man in the black feather coat's face twisted, sliding off his chair and slinking away like a pissed off cat, Ben following him like he always did.

_-*-_  


*Beep* *Beep*

Klaus took a good wiff of the delightful smell of cardboard dipped in plastic and baked goods that were made by people he wouldn't trust to make cereal.

"You see Ben? This is much more our pace."

Their "pace" turned out to be a 24/7 gas station with minimal lighting and peeling paint.

Ben rolled his eyes as Klaus twirled around and headed off in no direction in particular.

They had been perusing the shelves for a while before they finally paused in the frozen food section.

Klaus pointed into the freezer, where a knockoff brand of Eggo's waffles was perched between do-it-yourself cinnamon buns and a questionable looking package of sausage links.

"Shall we?" Ben smiled at Klaus' antics.

They strolled up to a friendly looking man with a long beard who didn't seem to mind Klaus' strange chatter and checked out.

They found a rather rough looking park that was no doubt used by drug dealers who, in all fairness, were just trying to make a living.

And so, they sat on a broken down swing set, Klaus swinging slowly back and forth while Ben sat on the ground in front of him.

They had opened the waffles at the gas station and the nice old man had heated them up. He took one for himself and placed one on top of the box, setting it aside for Ben.

He frowned. "Klaus, you should take it."

Klaus blinked. "It's yours."

Ben opened his mouth to argue before stopping. He saw an emotion on his brother's face that felt incredibly strange given the context. Desperate.

Suddenly, it made sense. Klaus rarely liked to bring up that Ben was dead, and he was beginning to understand why. Klaus was lonely, he had always been since his sibling had died. And no amount of being there for him could erase the fact that he couldn't find physical comfort in his brother anymore. He couldn't be the thing that kept him tethered to the real world.

But he could pretend. He could pretend for Klaus. Pretend that he could still do the normal things that he could when he was alive. And so he would. If he could do this for Klaus, he would.

So he smiled. "Thanks, Klaus."

Klaus' returning smile was everything that Ben had to be thankful for.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope this fandom takes off so expect to see more from me!


End file.
